Motorhoming in central Sweden

[Threviel]

Final comment on Dalarna.

One thing I do not think I've mentioned is the knives. The Mora knife is the standard work knife in Sweden. My father, a fisherman, had one. My father in law, a farmer, had one. Or rather, all of us have several. I use mine daily when doing stuff at home.

So they have a shop in Mora. I went with my 7-year old boy there and bought him his first knife. One happy, happy, proud boy.

[The Brain]

Cool.

[Eddie Teach]

This is delightful!

I still want to know more about your motorhome!

Of course. It's this one https://www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/motorhomes/buyers-guide/motorhomes/details/t-6911-4/9212

Oh.  I thought that the title referred to some place called "Motorhoming," located in central Sweden.

[Jacob]

The Jarl of Motorhoming is raiding our shores again!

[Threviel]

The void proved to be quite nice. We arrived in a small town called Alfta in the county of Hälsingland. Here another world heritage site waits for us, the decorated farmhouses. Huge farms, almost like mansions, that are painted in the local style.

Back in the old days of the estates general there were generally three states, clergy, nobles and commoners. Sweden had four estates, clergy, nobles, burghers and farmers. The farmers in Sweden had a uniquely strong position. For example there was no serfdom in the proper Swedish regions. Due to treaties protecting local laws there was serfdom in the baltic states and in my home region, Skåneland, when it was conquered from Denmark. Heavy handed Swedish enforcement of Swedish law is probably a big part of why the rebellious Skåne of 1675 was turned into loyal Skåne of 1700.

This is very clear in these poorer, less populated parts of Sweden. There wasn't much of a nobility so wealthy farmers built large luxurious houses in large numbers in a scale that's quite rare in the southern parts of the country. Many of these houses are very old, but the decorating thing seems to be from the 17th-18th century.

We visited the biggest one, Jon-Lars, and it was closed. Well, it looked nice on the outside at least. The main house was built in the 1850s, but some buildings were from the 1600's.

In the evening we bathed in some pools between rapids in a stream by the camping ground. It was the best non-ocean bathing time that I've ever had. There was even an abandoned timber building right next to the pool. Ridiculously scenic.

[Berkut]

Thanks! I've been thinking about getting a small motor home. Basically something for me and my dog to tool around in during the winter when I cannot sail.

Get a small trailer instead.  Much, much cheaper (plus you don't need separate insurance), plus when you arrive at wherever you are going you can just unhook your trailer then use your vehicle to drive around.  Plus servicing your vehicle is much simpler than trying to get someone to service your motorhome.

Some of the little pop-up trailers are so light then can be towed by basically anything.

That was what I was thinking, and I actually bought my last car pretty much specifically with that idea - it was just about the only small sized SUV that had a tow rating. But I've been looking, and even the smallest tow behinds seem to exceed my vehicles tow rating of 1500lbs.

So...

There's actually quite a premium on very light trailers on the used market.  We sold ours within 24 hours when we put it up for sale (we had just bought a slightly larger trailer).  But yeah - 1500lb is very very light.  We have a 2011 V6 RAV4 with a max tow capacity of 3500lb, and it's not exactly a big SUV.

But yeah if you are willing to look for new there are some of those ultralight popups (such as the one Jacob linked to) they do exist.

Ironically (at least in Alberta) it's much easier to find much larger trailers for sale - precisely because they're so much more heavier to tow.


The other thing - you can exceed your tow capacity as well.  I'm pretty sure we exceed the capacity of our RAV4.  But then we're quite range limited.  We don't go more than an hour or two from home (and wouldn't ever risk going in the mountains).  Which is fine for a family of 5, but probably not what you'd want a trailer for.

I did some research on this - why the same car has a significantly lower max tow rating in the US and Europe.

The basic, simple answer is that in most of the US, the laws are simple around towing. There isn't any detail about tongue weight, max speeds, etc., etc. So the law in most US states is simple "You cannot exceed the max tow weight - but as long as you do not, you can drive your car in the exact same way as if you are not towing anything". So that means the "max" is much lower.

In Europe, the max tow weight is with the assumption that you are not allowed to drive over a certain speed while towing, and there are some restrictions (IIRC) on things like max grade and such. So that means they can have a higher max wo weight because that includes pretty rational restrictions on what you do when towing.

[Threviel]

Hälsingland is trying for a foodie profile. Lots of high quality food producers around. Today we visited a market for those kind of producers.

I got to taste an Ovanåkersmörgås. Hard bread with goat messmör (wimp butter) and a fire cheese, which in practice is unsalted and slightly softer Halloumi. Delicious.

Messmör is more or less dulce de leche, but salted and made from cow or sometimes goat milk. It's a savoury dish used as a spreading on sandwiches. Very peculiar in taste.

We bought some local flat bread and for evening meal we made a stew of onion and smoked reindeer that, together with potatoes, we made wraps with.

I also bought some local cheeses made from goat and cow, but I haven't tried them.

Otherwise we continue northward, soon we will leave Hälsingland and enter the real north of Sweden. We were planning the rest of the trip tonight and it seems we will just about cross over the mid line of Sweden and enter the northern half. But the traditional view is that Northern Sweden begin quite a bit below this line.

[The Brain]

Food sounds awesome.

[Barrister]

I did some research on this - why the same car has a significantly lower max tow rating in the US and Europe.

The basic, simple answer is that in most of the US, the laws are simple around towing. There isn't any detail about tongue weight, max speeds, etc., etc. So the law in most US states is simple "You cannot exceed the max tow weight - but as long as you do not, you can drive your car in the exact same way as if you are not towing anything". So that means the "max" is much lower.

In Europe, the max tow weight is with the assumption that you are not allowed to drive over a certain speed while towing, and there are some restrictions (IIRC) on things like max grade and such. So that means they can have a higher max wo weight because that includes pretty rational restrictions on what you do when towing.

Interesting.

So Mrs B worked in a weigh scale when we first met.  So big commercial trucks would have to come in to be weighed, and would be fined if overweight.

Recreational vehicles do not need to pull in to weigh scales.  When they would do mobile enforcement they would not pull over recreational vehicles.

All of that means as long as you're comfortable towing your trailer, then you're fine.

I'm pretty sure once we load up our trailer with water, food etc. it's overweight for my RAV4.  But I watch my speeds (usually 90-100 kph when the max is 100), and as mentioned I don't take it into the mountains.

[Berkut]

My concern is not really about whether I might get a ticket - I would not even know how a police officer could possibly weigh my vehicle if they wanted to....

My concern would be over insurance.

[Threviel]

Sweden is divided into a two administrative levels. At the bottom is the municipal commune, normally one per larger town, 300ish in the country. They handle local stuff, local roads, elder care, schools, building laws and stuff.

The next level is the region, 15ish or so, i can't be bothered to google it. They handle mostly health services, hospitals and the like. They were introduced by Gustavus Adolphus and A wl Oxenstierna in the constitution of 1634. They are mostly useless and should be done away with. In Swedish they are called Län, fiefs would be a direct translation.

And then we have landskap, what I have called counties, although that's not directly translatable. Sweden is hopelessly archaic and still cling to these medieval institutions. They are removed from all law and rule and are rarely used in official state communication. They are very old and their beginnings are to 24/25ths lost in the mists of time (Norrbotten was created in 1995).

Swedes identify with their landskap, we are, as the best Swedish prime minister said Europeans, Swedes, Hallänningar (Due to him being from Halland).

Sweden has one landskap named Västerbotten (West bottom), Österbotten(East bottom) is in Finland, I think this is a thing in Norway and Denmark too.

Landskaps are also used by the royals, nowadays new kids are made dukes/duchesses of a landskap.

Sweden also has another, also very ancient level. There are three parts to Sweden, Svealand (Land of the Svear) Götaland (goths) and Norrland (Northern land). They are mostly used by metereologists nowadays.

Now, why am I rambling about this. Well, today we entered Västernorrlands län, Medelpads landskap in Norrland. We are officially in the official north.

Today we camp by a river in a very nice camping run by a German couple that does not speak Swedish. We rented a boat and we've bathed and failed to catch fish.

[Barrister]

My concern is not really about whether I might get a ticket - I would not even know how a police officer could possibly weigh my vehicle if they wanted to....

My concern would be over insurance.

There are such a thing as mobile scales.

And yes - if you fuck up your vehicle by towing an overweight trailer you're not going to be able to claim insurance.  But beyond that I don't see too much of an issue there.

[Threviel]

Minor observation: The prevalence of Stockholm tourists can be deduced by the prevalence of gluten-free adverts.

[Threviel]

In 1897 king Chulalongkorn (Rama V) visited Europe. During his trip he wanted to see, while visiting Sweden, how logging was done. King Oscar II of Sweden sent him to Ragunda, along the Indals river. He spent a day there and it was nice.

In the 1940's the Indals river was harnessed to create electrical power. The memory of the Siamese kings visit was still remembered, so one of the new small gravel roads built was named King Chulalongkorn road.

In the 90's a Thai dance troupe was passing through the area, saw the road sign and went: Wtf?

Clever Thai-Swedish entrepreneurs heard about it and got the idea to build a royal pavilion in Chulalongkorns memory. They got the commune, Ragunda, involved and also somehow the Royal Thai Court. And they got it built. The only Thai royal pavilion outside of Thailand is located in Bumfuck, Nowhere, northern Sweden.

It was quite surreal and also still a living developing place. There were perhaps 50 Thais and a few Swedes there and everyone seemed to take it seriously.

[Threviel]

In the late 1700's logging took off in Sweden. The great rivers were used to transport the lumber to the coast and life got horrible in a different manner. One of the great rivers was the Indals river, but it hade one major problem. The great fall was a 20m waterfall that splintered the lumber.

No worries a merchant called Huss said, I will build a lumber canal going around the fall. He got to digging a side channel from the large Ragunda lake. Everything went ok until one night in 1797 when Swedens largest ecological disaster happened. The spring flood was great enough to break the banks of the new canal and the great Ragunda lake emptied into it in 4 hours. The Indal river changed course into the canal and the Great fall became the Dead fall, entirely devoid of water.

The legal process lasted into the 1970's, but by the the Dead fall had been a tourist attraction for a century or so. It was great, but the kids were tired and argued the whole time.